Ontario amateur Michael Moreau,
VA3LKI, was one of six recipients of the 2016 Recognition Award from the Seven
Seas Cruising Association, a worldwide group serving people who live aboard
their sailboats or power cruisers. According to the association's website,
Moreau was honored "for maintaining a Winklink RMS shore station outside Toronto for eight years, providing coverage across the North Atlantic and US Eastern Seaboard." Winkink 2K
is a digital messaging mode using packet radio as well as internet links to
provide communications services via Radio Mail Server (RMS) stations for
sailors and others who are "off the grid" of the commercial
telecommunications network.
Additional detail was provided by Dave Skolnick,
KO4MI, who said in an e-mail that "Michael provided long and reliable
service to licensed sailors and other cruisers truly off the grid. Cruisers
across the North Atlantic depended upon
Michael's station for weather information, contact with medical resources, and
other important logistics needs."
